The
book contains 175 photographs and the names of 2000
local coal miners

Among
these names are several hundred miners who were present
as rescuers at the Blantyre and Udston disasters.

Also
included in the book is a harrowing eyewitness account
by Hugh Brown who was both a survivor and a rescuer
at the explosion in Dixon's No 2 and 3 pits in 1877.

Rescuers
being lowered down the shaft holding on to wood require
to make a platform for the bodies floating about in four
feet of water at the bottom of the shaft...

Read
of the incredible bravery of the men who cleared the blocked
shafts in an attempt to reach the entombed miners and
a description of the scenes underground.

There
are stories about the disaster in Blantyre's No.3 Pit where 26 men died and the overwinding accident which resulted
in the loss of 6 lives and included each of these stories
are many names of miners who were present or witnesses at
the trial of Arthur Clelland the winding engineman who
was made a scapegoat for the coalmasters neglect of safety measures
to protect the miners.

The
depression in 1929 and the march to London are also included
with a photograph and names of men of Blantyre and Burnbank men who took part.

The
names of almost 100 children who were killed in the coal
mines of Hamilton Parish and the colliery they were killed
is also included.

There
are stories from QUARTER VILLAGE AND QUARTER COLLIERIES and the names of the miners who were on the 1841 and 1851 census
returns. All the men known to have been killed at Quarter collieries
are also included.

The
story is told of THE UDSTON PIT DISASTER and its 73 victims.
The bravery of the men who survived the explosion has to be
read to be believed. Read how several of the men climbed 700
feet up the shaft in pitch darkness in a desperate attempt to
escape being entombed. The names of the men known to be killed
at Udston colliery are also included.

THE
EDDLEWOOD AND CADZOW EVICTIONS. Read how the John Watson
Ltd evicted 750 men women and children from Eddlewood Rows
and Meikle

Earnock Village and of the attempt by the Cadzow
Coal Company to evict 200 families at Cadzow and how the
miners fought back.

The names of many of the people involved in the Eddlewood evictions
are also included and the names of approximately 200 Cadzow
Colliery miners who were to be evicted two years after the
Eddlewood evictions. Read the story of how they fought the Sheriff's officers.Included
are the addresses of the old time Cadzow miners involved in
the threatened evictions.

SIR
JOHN WATSON COALMASTER. Read about the vast amounts of money
the coalmasters left when they died and also a detailed description
of the stables build by Sir John Watson coalmaster for his horses
while his miners and their families were squeezed into one and
two roomed houses without washhouses, sinks or toilets.

THE
1926 MINERS' STRIKE is covered and there are photographs
of Larkhall miners who immigrated to Canada after the strike.

EARNOCK
COLLIERY AND EARNOCK ROWS, Burnbank Hamilton, is very well
covered with stories about the Colliery and rows. There is a
good selection of photographs of "The Folk of Earnock Rows"
and several poems about the rows which include many names of
families who lived there.

THE
STORY OF THE DYKEHEAD/SUMMERLEE COLLIERY LARKHALL and the
disaster which cost the lives of 13 men and boys is told with
vivid descriptions of the unbelievable bravery of the men who
rescued of 50 unconscious men and scenes at the pithead as the
women and local doctors attempted to revive these men being
brought up from the inferno below. Many names are included in
this story including the names of all the men known to have
been killed at this colliery.

CADZOW
COLLIERY AND NEILSLAND COLLIERY read true stories about
these collieries. Included are the names of many of the miners
who worked there. The names of the men who were known to have
been killed at both of these collieries are included.

The
Ranche Pub
THE STORY OF THE RIOT IN THE RANCHE PUB, CADZOW will
have you laughing your head off. Included are the names
of the miners involved in the riot and subsequent court
case.

Read
the hysterically funny poem In Memory of Earnock Bing
my Everest by Burnbank man Thomas Matthew Edgar and the
poignant poem about a brusher called Joe Malone by an
unknown miner.

AUCHINRAITH
COLLIERY, BLANTYRE. The disaster in this colliery in 1930
is also gone into with great detail and the names of a number
of the men of the men involved in the rescue are also given.
Many photographs taken at the time of the disaster are also
included.

KEIR
HARDIE, ROBERT SMILLIE, WILLIAM SMALL and WILLIAM B. SMALL.
Read of the struggle and sacrifice by these men and the mining
communities to establish a miners' union.

Read
of the fight the miners had to be able to spend their wages
where they wanted to without the threat of being sacked. The
details of the truck system being operated at UDSTON COLLIERY,
HAMILTON and the bravery of JOHN DUNN trade unionist
and coal miner who made it public and paid the price for doing
so are also included.

There
are a number of beautiful PIT POEMS written by local
miners, all of them taken from the old Hamilton Advertisers,
The Lanarkshire and The Blantyre Gazette between the years 1856
-1947. These poems have to be read to be appreciated for what
they are…….. beautiful evocative poems about a time long gone…describing
the life of the COAL MINER and his family.

The
following letter appeared in the Hamilton Advertiser on Thursday
29th June 2006."I have read Wilma Bolton's book BLACK FACES AND TACKETY
BOOTS from cover to cover, it is a work of art and brings a
vision of life in the mining communities which even those of
us who grew up in these communities did not fully realise.

Although
we lived our childhood in the shadow of pit bings and regularly
watched the cages go up and down the shafts, spoke the language
of the district and heard our people speak of life as it had
been, we absorbed so little of the absolute reality of some
of the things they spoke of.

In
the main we contented ourselves with sharing the pride of the
communities we lived in. Because we were children we somehow
felt that all that had gone on before we were born was a form
of ancient history.

Wilma's
book puts everything into proper perspective and all that she
describes so poignantly was within touching distance of our
own lifetime.
She uncovers so much that had been allowed to become dormant,
almost an irrelevance, to a society submerged in affluence and
materialism

A
surprising number of people who have read the book have found
the names of family and friends who were involved in some way
in the dreadful catastrophes mentioned. The book is a must for
anyone interested in local history, especially those of us who
have been brought up in mining communities.

Don
Boyle.
Hamilton. "

The
book which has been an instant success is priced at £15 plus
postage can be obtained at www.wilmabolton.com

Pit Props and Ponies is a 216 page book packed with true stories from the coal mines of Lanarkshire. The book is a personalised social history of the Lanarkshire coal miner. It tells who he was, where came from and what he stood for and most of all what he stood up against and includes several thousand names of the old time miners and 217 photographs, many of them dating back more than 100 years.

Included are the names of men who were bonded slaves to the Duke of Hamilton in 1785 and also and the names of the miners who were working in the Quarter pits in 1799 and who without a doubt were also bonded slaves newly freed from slavery following the 1799 Coal Mines Act.

Also included are the names of many of the Irish miners who came over to work in the coal mines during the potato famine and included with the names of many of these Irish miners is their County of origin in Ireland.

As mining technology improved and deep coal pits opened up throughout the county these early miners spread out all over Lanarkshire. Countless thousands of their descendents emigrated to America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The book is an extremely unique and important family history source if you are descended from a Lanarkshire coal mining family.

It contains 105 stories and pit poems. Read the stories of the Quarter evictions and the riots at Ross Colliery, Ferniegair. There are stories from Home Farm Colliery, Eddlewood Rows, Cadzow Rows, Ferniegair Rows. Earnock Rows and many other collieries and colliery rows. Blantyre is well covered and among the stories is the tale of the stay down strike at Dixon’s Collieries, Blantyre and the names of some of the men who stayed underground.

Included are personal memories giving vivid descriptions of life in the miners’ rows and also stories written by miners describing their life working underground.

The
book which has been an instant success is priced at £15 plus
postage can be obtained at